


Changes

by superallens



Series: Allenbert One Shots [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Non-Consensual Kissing, barry is confused the whole time, bet y'all weren't expecting that doozy, heavily based on the flash episode 3x02, poor julian honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 08:02:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superallens/pseuds/superallens
Summary: Barry messed up the timeline before he even got a chance to live in it and now he has to live with the repercussions, all while trying to learn the differences between the new timeline and the old one.(Or, the Lovers to Enemies Allenbert AU nobody asked for)





	

**Author's Note:**

> this came to be from my need for a lovers to enemies fic and more of this pairing bc cmon, u gotta love these two.

Barry felt like a stranger in this new timeline. It wasn’t as strange as Flashpoint, but it was still incredibly different from the timeline he grew up in, the timeline that he hated and loved at the same time. 

It wasn’t that this new timeline was drastically different- he was still the Flash, Cisco and Caitlin were still at S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry and Jesse were still Harry and Jesse. It was the little things that nagged at him like an itch he just couldn’t reach. 

When he walked into his lab at the CCPD with Joe in tow, he expected for his work life to have remained the same. That he’d still have his lab all to himself. But he was greatly mistaken when he saw a mop of blonde hair shift when he entered the room. 

“Deep breaths,” Joe whispered in his ears as he patted his shoulder. Barry flashed Joe a confused look before the older man walked out of the room. Gripping tightly to his to-go coffee cup, he leaned to the side to get a better look at the man.

The man at the desk had striking blue eyes and a tense aura surrounding him. The man, however, looked incredibly sharp in his vest and tie. Barry couldn’t help but think the man had a very attractive, unique look to him.

“Um, hello?” Barry asked, drawing out his statement. 

“Yes. Hello, Mr. Allen,” the man said dully, not looking up from his papers. “I can still see you’re there, and no, I don’t want your help, thank you.”

“What are you doing here, Julian Albert, meta-human CSI specialist?” A flash of annoyance crossed Julian’s face.

“I did tell you the meta-human conference was only for two days-”

“Okay, but this is-”

“Still our lab,” Julian heavily sighed. “Unfortunately. Yes, county forgot to mention that significant detail before assigning me, but here we are.”

Julian stood up from his desk and turned to face Barry. “Looks like you and I get to be roomies for a little longer than we’d hoped.”

Julian gave Barry a small smile, but it looked more like a grimace. Julian definitely wasn’t pleased to be in the position he was in. What was this guy’s problem?

“Roomies,” Barry whispered under his breath, a look of confusion and stress apparent on his face. 

“Yes, roomies, as you like to call it, no matter how many times I tell you how absurd the term is,” Julian mumbled as he searched through files. 

“I never-”

“Mr. Allen, I need it quiet, so if you could stop talking it would be very much appreciated, thank you,” Julian snapped, looking up from the files to glare at Barry. Barry raised his hands up in surrender and slowly backed out of the lab.

“I’m just gonna go-”

“You do that.”

***

Barry didn’t see Julian again until later that day when the two of them got called onto a crime scene. 

Barry watched as Julian took samples from the husk. They didn’t know where the husks originated from, but Barry knew that they were possibly the weirdest things he had ever seen- and Barry’s been on three different Earths. 

“How have I worked with this guy for the past year?” Barry muttered to Joe as he shifted the strap on his shoulder.

“You’ve been saying that a lot lately,” Joe replied curtly. He raised his eyebrow at Barry and then at the husk. Barry gave Joe a little nod and checked to make sure Julian wasn’t looking. In a blink of an eye, Barry had a sample of the husk in his case and was speeding off to S.T.A.R. Labs.

***

Caitlin squinted into the microscope as Barry examined the projection of what she saw on the screen. 

“There’s basically nothing here,” Caitlin stated as she adjusted the settings on the microscope.

“Yeah, I know. I had to steal the sample because our meta-human expert wouldn’t let me take one.” Cisco blinked blankly beside Caitlin as he looked at the screen and then the two of them.

“You mean Julian?” Caitlin asked.

“Yeah, you know him?” Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a confused look. 

“Yeah, we’ve known him for a while,” Cisco replied slowly. “He’s the best.”

Cisco let out a heavy sigh. Barry couldn’t help but notice how tired Cisco looked. Weird.

“Um, you need me?” Cisco asked Caitlin, not giving Barry a second look. 

“No, I think I’ve got this,” Caitlin replied, a soft smile gracing her face. “But thank you.”

Cisco nodded before exiting the room. 

“Hey, um, Caitlin?”

“If this is about Cisco, I told you, I’m staying out of it.”

“No, uh, actually it’s about Julian.” Caitlin’s face softened. She gave him a look that said ‘continue’.

“Do you know what he has against me? Like, he doesn’t let me do anything, or touch anything,” Barry said, pointing to the sample in the microscope. “I just don’t get it.”

“For someone as smart as you, Barry, you are incredibly dumb sometimes,” Caitlin sighed. “I know that he told you that what you did was fine, but he obviously isn’t doing that great right now and putting on this front is helping him get through how he’s feeling. You just need to give it time and you have to try to stay calm with him.”

“But-”

“No buts! This is hard on both of you, whether you’d like to admit it or not,” Caitlin sighed as she smoothed out her skirt. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go run more tests on these samples.”

“Yeah,” Barry mumbled as he twiddled with his thumbs. He was more confused now than ever. What the hell had past Barry done?

***

After a terrible group dinner, a trip to Earth-3, and a long explanation, everyone at S.T.A.R. Labs knew that Barry wasn’t their Barry. He was still Barry though, just slightly different. 

After Barry’s confession, it was like a giant ‘oh!’. It now made sense why Barry literally had no idea what was going on and was constantly asking questions.

Everyone had been in the cortex discussing what to do about the Rival, Alchemy, and the husks. One by one, everyone slowly left the room until it was just Barry and Caitlin. 

“Glad to see everything’s starting to get back to the way it was.”

“Yeah, I mean, mostly,” Barry said. “You have nothing to worry about, Cait. I think that out of everyone, you’re the only one that wasn’t really affected when I messed up the timeline.”

“I’m not worried about me, Barry,” Caitlin sighed, standing up from her seat. “I’m worried about you.”

“Me?” Barry asked, quirking his head and pointing towards himself. “Is this because of the Rival? Cait, I’m fine, Cisco and I handled-”

“No, this isn’t about any metas, or Cisco. It’s about Julian.”

“Julian? What does that jerk have to do with any of this?” Caitlin bit her lip before moving away from the center console. 

“I think you should sit.”

“Okay,” Barry replied with drawn out confusion. “You’re kind of scaring me.”

“The reason why Julian is being… abrasive… with you is because you guys were engaged.” Barry raised his eyebrows as he rested his chin on his hand. A weak laugh escaped his lips.

“Engaged? To him?” Barry asked in disbelieve. “How?”

“You guys met at the space convention in Starling. You had those in your timeline, right?”

“Yeah, Ray Palmer hosted the last one.”

“He hosted this one too. Ray introduced you two, then you guys hit it off. You never told us the full story.”

“I don’t wanna know why,” Barry said with a grimace.

“Neither do we.”

“So engaged as in past tense?”

“Yes, exactly,” Caitlin hummed as she sat back down on the table. “You broke it off a month ago.”

“Why?”

“You were pretty vague about it. Something about how he didn’t trust you and you finding out some secret of his.”

“Did I ever say what?”

“If I knew I would tell you.”

“Does he know I’m the Flash?”

“You were gonna tell him the day you broke off the engagement.”

“Oh,” Barry said, looking down at his hands. “Oh, this makes so much more sense now. So he still thinks I’m the Barry that broke off the engagement… Oh god, I’ve been such an ass to him too.”

“Yeah, you have been.”

“The secret must’ve been pretty bad.” Caitlin shrugged in response. 

Barry stood up from his seat and ran a hand through his hair.

“I-uh, I think I’m going to go talk to him? Yeah, I’m gonna go talk to my ex-fiance. That’s just weird,” Barry mumbled before he ran off,

“Good luck!”

***

Barry entered the lab breathless. He could feel his heart pulsing through his veins. Now that he knew the truth of the situation, everything just clicked. His attraction to Julian made sense, along with his feelings frustration and guilt.

“Didn’t expect you to come back tonight, Mr. Allen.”

“Can I uh, talk to you, Julian?” Barry asked. Julian looked up at Barry with a cold expression on his face. “Like can we pretend that were friends, maybe even friendly with each other, just for a moment?”

“Fine,” Julian said, standing up from his seat. “I’m only agreeing since your proposal sounds genuine.”

“I-uh-”

“Poor use of words on my part, I apologize.”

“Oh, I-I didn’t even notice, I uh-”

“Spit it out, Allen.”

“I talked about our situation with Caitlin and I just thought that maybe we could talk about it some more, try to talk it out or something,” Barry trailed off. Julian glared at Barry as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“You’ve really got this good guy routine thing down, haven’t you? And everyone just buys it,” Julian said, followed by a scoff. “They don’t see it, but I do.”

“Is that right?” Barry replied with a quirked eyebrow. 

“Yes.”

“Deep down, there’s something seriously messed up about you, Barry Allen,” Julian said. “And I’m finally able to see it.”

“What is it that you see anyways,  _Mr. Albert_?” Barry said, starting to get annoyed. He just wanted a peaceful conversation, perhaps over a cup of coffee. But that obviously wasn’t happening anymore. 

“I see a conceited, self-righteous prick who is so far up his own ass he can’t see what’s in front of him.”

“Oh yeah? Keep going.”

“Gladly. I see someone who doesn’t understand it when people keep secrets from him when he himself hides one of the biggest secrets of all.” Barry froze and Julian let out a cold laugh. “That’s right, Mr. Allen. I know you’re the Flash and I’ve known for a while. Pathetic that you couldn’t even trust you’re fiancé with the secret that half of Central City knows, if you ask me.”

“Wait, you  _know_?”

“Well, I’m not an idiot. We spent practically every waking moment together and you really think that I wouldn’t suspect something was up when you didn’t come home some nights or you’d come home with dried blood on your face, or a broken finger, or-” Julian was cut off by Barry’s lips on his own. Julian froze with wide eyes when he felt Barry’s hand softly cup his face. 

Julian shoved Barry off of him, wiping his mouth off instantaneously. 

“No, you don’t get to do that,” Julian spat through gritted teeth. “Not anymore.”

“Julian, I’m-”

“Get out.”

“Ju-”

“I said, get out,” Julian said so cold, it sent a chill down Barry’s spine. “Actually, you know what, I’ll leave. Goodnight Mr. Allen.”

Barry stood there in the middle of the lab, mouth opening and closing, but no words coming out. He wanted to say something, anything, to make it all better, but words wouldn’t be able to fix this.

When Barry had kissed Julian, it felt right. It felt like he was at home and that there were no problems in the world he needed to fret about. It was easy for him to tell that there was still a part of the other version of Barry in him, the part that loved and adored Julian. Kissing the other man ignited that part of him and he never wanted that flame to burn out.

But alas, the flame turned to smoke before it even had the chance to glow. 

Julian paused at the door and turned back towards Barry. “Oh, and if you ever try anything like that again without my consent, I will not hesitate to press charges.”

Barry watched as Julian disappeared around the corner. A lump rose up in Barry’s throat as his heart sunk into the pit of stomach.

What had he done?

 


End file.
